Editor's Corner

I want to thank everyone who recently signed up for Editor’s Corner, and all of you who recommended it to your coworkers. In particular, I’d like to thank the winner of the Starbucks card: Tomya Fason. Tomya brings 21 new readers to the “club.” Coming up a close second with 18 submissions is Peggy Esch. In the days from January 2 to January 9, we have gone from 505 subscribers to 685.

Please feel free to have people e-mail me (kchurch) any time of year to be added to the list! Remember, they can get a taste at https://episystechpubs.com/ before making such a serious commitment. 🙂

I know I owe you some more answers about punctuation and quotation marks, but it is Friday, my dog got skunked, and I think we need something more relaxing. The following article is from the Common Errors in English Usage website (http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html).

CONFIDENT/CONFIDANT/CONFIDANTE

In modern English “confident” is almost always an adjective. Having studied for a test you feel confident about passing it. You’re in a confident frame of mind. This spelling is often misused as a noun meaning “person you confide in,” especially in the misspelled phrase “close confident.”

The spelling “confidante” suggests that such a close friend might be a female, and conservatives prefer to confine its use to refer to women. But this spelling is also very common for males, and the spelling “confidant” is also used for both males and females. Either one will do in most contexts, but the person you trust with your deep secrets is not your “confident.”

The incorrect, seldom-used apostrophe “e” from a family of semi-literate goats:

Have a good weekend!

Kara Church

Senior Technical Editor